Customer Reviews

Which MBA?: A Critical Guide to the World's Best MBAs (13th Edition)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm wondering why nobody ever thought to write a b-school guide like The Fiske Guide to Colleges (or Insider's or Barrons top 50) with in-depth reviews of schools and programs? I'd like to know what students and alumni think of their professors, classmates, atmosphere, class asignments, internship opportunities, recruitment on campus, etc... Alas, no b-school guide I've seen provides all those insights about which you can read before shelling out $$$ to visit some of the schools you're interested in. Oh, well...

Mr. Bickerstaffe and the people from the Economist's Intelligence Unit summarize some of the interesting facts about programs, students, atmosphere, recruiting, location, job prospects, etc. for a good selection of U.S. and international b-schools. Each school is given about 2-3 pages. If you're looking to go to b-school outside of the U.S., this guide is absolutely indispensable. If you're living outside of the U.S. and want to got to a US b-school, you may want to check out another guide that will have more than the top 30-50 schools this guide has. If you're looking at top U.S. b-schools, this guide will provide you with more in-depth information about programs than any other b-school guide I've seen. It includes not only facts (which are available pretty much everywhere on the web), but distilled views and opinions of the real people who've at least visited (if not attended) the schools in question. Be warned, however, that quite a few U.S. b-schools are not included in this guide (most first- and second-tier schools are in there).

I should add a bit about the structure of this book. The first part (100 pages or so) gives advice about selecting a business school and application process. The second, more voluminous part is comprised of the actual school descriptions. The second part is divided into four sections: UK schools, rest of Europe schools, North American schools (not just the US schools, although they definitely predominate), and the rest of the world schools.

If there were more opinions from students, alumni, and recruiters included in this volume, I would have given it 5 stars. Given the competition, however, this is still the best b-school guide your money can buy (which is not necessarily to say that you should spend $...+ on a guidebook if the money is tight).

This book gives a lot of usefull information about a lot of MBA programs, but I found a lack of top ten U.S. schools. Some of them are missing, there is a huge gap between the best schools and those ranked below. (Some of them are ranked below #100).

I prefer this book than browsing the net because at a glance you can have interesting information of many, many MBA's and the information is well organized. GMAT means, ratio applications/accepted, strong subjects, deadlines, number or students, main features, % of student body, all the basic information to get to know what an MBA may you offer and wheter it's appealing depending on your targets.

The europen chapter is better than anyone. The U.S. chapter is not wide enough, but not bad.

If you are deciding to which MBA you should apply, this book will help you to shorten your starting list and focus on 10 to 12 MBA programs. Then which one to choose it's up to you

This series used to contain "raw comments" from students which I found very interesting. Now, Business Week is the only one that publishes them.

Interesting statistics, good summaries. But pretty duplicative of any other book, web site, WSJ, BW, etc.

Except for international. Very highly recommended if you're looking at international schools off the beaten path.

Getting long in the tooth.

Where American business schools are concerned, this book says really nothing new: it gives basic stats for admission, salaries, ; it describes the nuts-and-bolts of the curriculum, etc. There is really nothing in the way of editorial comments from students, faculty, recruiters, or for that matter from the authors. It's just the facts, mam.

The approach for European schools is the same, but I know of no other book that mentions more than even, say, half a dozen European schools. This book has about 100 pages of info on British schools (which is almost as much as they have for the U.S.) and almost as much again for "continental" Europe. So if you are interested in schools in Europe beyond the top six or so, you will actually need this book. It will be handy (but incomplete, since it lacks much qualitative information).

If you are a U.S. student (or intend to be), the basic Business Week guide gives the same basic information and adds a lot of qualitative info to. Buy it instead for this country.

While this book covers North American b-schools, it is particularly valuable if you are interested in a European business school. We particularly like the primary source research from the surveys. While we would have liked to have seen even more quotes from the purported 4,500 survey respondents, this is certainly the most authoritative source we have found for European, particularly British, MBA programs. Additionally, we have received nothing but positive feedback Which MBA? (both the current and previous editions) from our clients.

This is a fantastic guide to MBA programs for non-geographically challenged Americans. The first part of the book discusses admission requirements, the objectives of an MBA and the results of a global survey with academics, students and alumni. The second part provides listings of over 100 schools, including the biggest and best in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

In addition, they have just launched a website alongside the print guide...